WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.919 So today is National Orphan Sunday. 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:15.439 Not sure if you're aware of that, but this is a Sunday that the church sets aside to remember and consider and pray for orphans in our community and around the world. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:24.719 And so as I talk, I am asking the Holy Spirit to do a few things to open our hearts, open my heart, and open your heart. 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:28.960 And here are the things that I've been asking for and I'm asking for this morning. 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:38.000 Number one is this is that you would consider what does it mean for me to join God in caring for orphans? 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:46.719 Number two would be, and if you're on our community care team, about 35 of us in our church, there's a group of 35 that's on a community care team. 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:56.159 And if you're on that team that you would consider on behalf of our church during this message, what does it mean for our church to care for orphans? 00:00:56.799 --> 00:01:08.079 And then lastly, would you be willing to not minimize your own pain and see perhaps you have experienced orphanhood in some way? 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:13.200 So I want to pray for those three things quickly before we get into the sermon. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:22.000 God, we come before you and know that when it comes to caring for the vulnerable, it is the very thing that you do. 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:23.519 It is who you are. 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:33.840 God, would you help our hearts be opened up this morning to what it would mean for us to join you and care for orphans and the vulnerable? 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:41.359 Would you help our church this morning to discover what it might mean for our church to care for vulnerable children? 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:55.920 And would you help us to not minimize our own pain and our own journeys spiritually, maybe even physically, emotionally, that maybe we have experienced orphanhood in some way. 00:01:56.400 --> 00:02:01.599 And we need to hear this morning that you are the father to the fatherless. 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:08.000 Holy Spirit, we ask for you to do that work in us and in our church this morning. 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:08.960 Amen. 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:15.439 If you were here last week, Jim Moon came up and he spoke for a few minutes before the sermon. 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:16.879 Jim is a missionary. 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:19.199 He helped our church be created. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:24.159 He was a church planning coach for me in our little group eight years ago when we started our church. 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:26.639 And so before he came up, I introduced him. 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:39.280 If you remember this, I stood up here and I mentioned that, and then I mentioned what he does now because he's now he works for an organization called Church Multiplication Ministries, and he's a church planning coach, and he does this overseas in a few countries. 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:41.120 And so I introduced him, right? 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:42.000 That's what I did. 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:43.680 Like you've seen that done before. 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:46.479 Maybe you've done that where you've introduced someone. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:53.680 And when you do that, you mention the thing that they spend the majority of their energy and time doing. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:55.439 That's how you introduce somebody. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:57.360 You lead in the main thing, right? 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:00.879 You lead in the main thing they spend their life doing. 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:03.439 Now they think about, they do other things, right? 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:07.280 They do other things with their life, but you lead with the main thing. 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:09.599 So think about this. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:16.479 Over and over again in the scriptures, God is introduced as father to the fatherless. 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:22.080 So he wants to be known as the God to the vulnerable and the broken. 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:32.319 He can be introduced in any way and known for anything, and he picks compassion as one of the dominant ways that he wants to be known. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:36.240 This is how author and Pastor Tim Keller explain that idea. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:46.159 Realize then how significant it is that the biblical writers introduce God as a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows. 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:49.680 This is one of the main things he does in the world. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:52.479 He identifies with the powerless. 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:55.120 He takes up their cause. 00:03:56.240 --> 00:04:02.639 So just for us to get our minds around orphans and orphanhood, here's some statistics on orphans. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:05.120 This is from the Christian Alliance for Orphans. 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:11.360 The total estimated number of orphans worldwide today is 140 million. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:18.079 So that means that they've lost either their father or mother, so they could still have one of them. 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:21.360 So the definition, I even know these definitions before I got into it this week. 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:28.000 So the definition that if you've lost, if a child has lost both their father and the mother, that's called double orphan, that's the term. 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:32.560 And so there's 15.1 million double orphans. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:34.959 They have no mom and they have no dad. 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:42.480 Now the estimated number of children on streets or in residential care is between two and eight million. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:44.399 And then the number of U.S. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:53.839 children, mostly school age and older, because that's where it becomes difficult for them to get adopted because most people go to adopt the younger ages. 00:04:55.199 --> 00:05:02.639 101,000 children between school age and older needing care and awaiting adoption. 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:07.120 And so into that knowledge we read James 1.27. 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:19.680 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:25.279 So that word visit means to look upon, to help or benefit. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:28.800 To look upon, to help or benefit. 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:31.040 So it doesn't mean like just visit, right? 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:32.560 Like you go and visit and then you leave. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:34.160 Like it doesn't mean just visit. 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:36.879 It also doesn't necessarily mean adopt. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:40.079 It doesn't necessarily mean now it doesn't not mean adopt. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:49.439 What it means is you are lovingly moving toward the orphan for their well-being. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:55.040 You're lovingly moving towards part of the trajectory of your life, part of your life. 00:05:55.360 --> 00:06:04.160 Point number one is this out of his heart of compassion, so where it begins, God calls his people, the church, to care for the vulnerable. 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:09.839 Out of his heart of compassion, God calls his people to care for the vulnerable. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:24.959 The word religion here in this context for James, he's speaking of this as the inner truth and the outer expression, that these two things are connected of your spiritual relationship with God. 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:28.639 That's what that's what true religion is to James. 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:32.639 It's the inner truth and the outer expression, all that's connected. 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:38.959 So in the context here in the ancient Near East, three people groups had become dominantly vulnerable. 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:46.800 And that's why we hear these three people groups mentioned over and over and over again in the scriptures: orphans, widows, sojourners. 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:50.000 And a sojourner is a foreigner or an immigrant. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:59.680 They had no clan, they had no family, they had no tribe, therefore they had no protection, they had no provision. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:13.920 It would be like being in Tehran today with no passport, no money, no phone, no family, and the American embassy just closed down. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:14.959 That's what it would be like. 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:17.040 You're totally exposed. 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:21.680 Suddenly you would become vulnerable to oppression. 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:24.319 You would become vulnerable to exportation. 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:27.040 That's what these people groups were like. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:32.560 But God, rich in mercy, cares for the vulnerable and calls his church to do the same. 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:40.800 Psalm 82, verse 3 give justice to the weak and the fatherless, maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:48.079 So I want to show you just very clearly in God's word, I want to systematically show this to you how clear this is. 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:50.879 So a little bit of a Bible study here for a few minutes. 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:56.240 Number one is this God cares for orphans as a father to the fatherless. 00:07:56.480 --> 00:08:01.759 Psalm 68, 5 says that, gives God that title, Father of the Fatherless. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:03.680 Hosea 14, verse 3. 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:06.879 In him the orphan finds mercy. 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:11.600 Deuteronomy 16, 9 through 11, orphans were welcomed into worship. 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:18.319 Deuteronomy is this book where God's beginning to outlay what a community of faith would look like for the Jewish people. 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:22.639 Number two is this God provided strategic provision for orphans. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:26.879 It was almost a, we can think of it as a systematic generosity. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:31.439 Deuteronomy 14 and also chapter 26. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:38.480 Every three years, very systematically, every three years, the tithe goes to the orphan, the widow, and the sojourner. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:44.000 Almost like a charitable fun, systematic within the community to care for these people. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:54.080 Deuteronomy 24, 19 through 21, give the remainder from your harvest, olive trees, and vineyards to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:57.200 Number three, God defends orphans. 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:00.320 Deuteronomy 10, 17 and 18. 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:04.000 God executes justice for the fatherless and the widow. 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:12.720 See, societal laws, communal laws, societal laws, legislation on behalf of orphans begins in the heart of God. 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:15.440 That's why we are for this legislation. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:19.759 We are for that sort of community and society and those laws. 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:25.440 Number four, God prohibits oppression of orphans and demands just treatment. 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:30.960 Jeremiah 22, verse 3, do no wrong to the resident, foreigner, widow, orphan. 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:33.600 Zechariah 7, 8, and 10. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:36.720 Do not oppress the widow or sojourner. 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:50.639 So just over and over and over again, embedded in the story that we have of our faith, is a God introducing himself, revealing himself father to the fatherless, caring for the vulnerable. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:55.759 There's a story in Matthew 19, Jesus is traveling through an area. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:09:59.840 You probably remember the story, a group of children approach him. 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:04.000 And as soon as the children come up, you know, the disciples are like, oh, you know, get away. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:06.960 Like, you know, Jesus has important people to deal with. 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:09.679 Because children, I mean, let me be honest. 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:11.840 I mean, children are messy. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:13.120 I mean, they're gifts, right? 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:15.600 I mean, they're gifts, but they're they're like messy gifts. 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:28.559 And you know that because you were with your nephew or, you know, a neighbor's kid or your kid, and you took your two-year-old into Kroger, you had six minutes to get like bananas and dog food to serene wrap, and you know, and it's just like it was so hard, right? 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:40.480 They touch everything and they cry and then they yell, and then they laugh all in like 30 seconds, and they cry again, and then they laugh, and then you laugh with them the second time, and you think there's nothing better than this, right? 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:43.759 Like in the second time, then they cry again, and you think there's a lot better than this, right? 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:47.120 It's just like it's a messy gift that they bring to us. 00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:48.799 But they do slow us down. 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:53.360 They like wonderfully slow us down, and they bring us into the present. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:59.440 They reveal and remind us that we aren't perfect either. 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:07.919 It becomes painfully aware at times, and that we're still loved, just like they aren't perfect and they are loved. 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:16.159 The disciples just figured Jesus had more important people, like people who maybe had their acts together more or could do things for him. 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:20.639 That he couldn't bother with like expendable children. 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:28.960 And Jesus says, Let the little children come to me, do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:31.600 Now he's not speaking about the innocence of children. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:37.840 The Bible doesn't teach about the innocence of children because the Bible says we're all sinners, and if you have a child, you know that as well. 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:42.240 Jesus is speaking about their weakness and need and vulnerability. 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:48.720 See, a child, an orphan, especially so, is incredibly vulnerable. 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:54.080 They're weak and dependent, they're horrible at hiding their flaws and their feelings. 00:11:55.360 --> 00:12:02.320 We might say they're wonderfully good at not hiding their flaws and feelings, and something we should learn from. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:05.919 They tend to trust and welcome being loved. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:08.960 They long to be loved, haven't learned to hide from that yet. 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:12.960 And in this way, children have so much to teach us. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:20.000 The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these, not just the children, but us. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:23.759 And this is where we get point number two, just a two-point sermon this morning. 00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:31.919 Point number two, we were spiritual orphans, all of us, yet God loves us as his beloved children. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:56.480 Romans 8, 15 and 16, for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, as sons, and we could say as sons and daughters, by whom we cry, Abba, Father, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. 00:12:57.600 --> 00:12:58.000 Right? 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:05.519 Another reminder that the Christian life is not a ladder to climb, but it's actually an adoption of our heart by God. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:08.080 God welcomed us to Himself. 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:09.919 We know it clearly in the cross. 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:13.759 Our sin is put upon Jesus, His righteousness is given to us. 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:16.639 We are fully his beloved children. 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:30.080 So we were moved from being an orphan spiritually to being an adopted child where you do have all the love and belonging and welcome that your heart wants? 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:33.840 Two contemplative questions for us. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:35.679 Two contemplative questions is this. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:43.519 Number one, in what ways do I still live as a spiritual orphan while truly being a child of God? 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:45.679 In what ways is that still going on for me? 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:50.720 In what ways am I still living as a spiritual orphan, even though I'm a child of God? 00:13:51.679 --> 00:14:01.039 Number two, what would it mean for my heart to rest more deeply in my identity as the beloved child of the loving Papa? 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:03.919 That's what Abba means. 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:07.759 Our hearts, our spirits are crying out, Abba God, Papa, Papa. 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:18.240 Pastorally, I'd just like to say it's possible some of you, whether you're here, you're watching online, that you were you were an orphan. 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:20.399 You don't talk about it a lot. 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:22.559 Maybe you hadn't talked about it in years. 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:27.200 And that you're still healing from that journey that you've been through. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:29.120 Incredibly painful. 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:34.480 And many of us were orphaned to some degree. 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:40.000 Because your mom took off and left. 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:43.200 Or your dad took off and left. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:46.879 They did not stay in your life emotionally. 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:52.799 Or maybe they stayed in the house, but they left emotionally. 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:56.480 And there was neglect, or maybe there was abuse. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:02.399 And that that is that is experiencing orphanhood. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:16.639 And we don't have to minimize our pain in order to have compassion on someone who is an orphan with both of their parents who have deceased or left them. 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:20.639 We don't have to minimize our pain in order to create compassion towards somebody else. 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:32.480 Actually, the way in which to have compassion on someone else is to face any of the pain we do have and to realize that God is the father to the fatherless to us. 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:39.840 That out of his compassion to us, we can begin to heal and have compassion toward someone else. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:44.960 A couple of years ago, I was on a short vacation to Florida with some friends of ours. 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:46.240 It was our family and their family. 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:47.679 Their family's a lot bigger. 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:53.200 That's a lot. 00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:55.360 They win, that's pretty sure. 00:15:55.600 --> 00:16:03.759 They have two white biological children, as they are both white, and then they have five African American adopted children. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:06.639 We're out by the pool, they're all playing. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:07.440 There's a lot of them. 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:09.279 There's a lot going on for me. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:12.399 They're all there and they're running around. 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:14.480 And they're all over the place. 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:24.559 And I'm a curious person, so finally I asked my friend, I said, like, when you see your children, do you see their skin color? 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:32.080 Like, do you see your white children as white and your brown children as brown, or do you just see them as your children? 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:33.200 Like, how's that work? 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:34.960 How's that work for you? 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:37.279 I'll never forget what he said. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:41.919 I see their skin color like you see hair color. 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:43.360 That's what he said. 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:48.320 It's part of who they are, and they are fully mine. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:52.240 He said, I have chosen them. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:56.080 See, this is what we have in the Father. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:17:03.759 He fully sees us, He fully sees us, He loves us, He has chosen us. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:05.440 J.I. 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:13.119 Packer, in his great book, Knowing God, he wrote this: you sum up the whole New Testament teaching in a single phrase. 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:34.160 If you speak of it as the revelation of the fatherhood of the Holy Creator, for everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new better than the old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:38.480 Father is the Christian name for God. 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:43.519 Church, we're going to close the sermon by praying. 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:49.759 We're going to pray for our hearts, and we're going to pray for vulnerable children and orphans. 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:53.119 On the screen, you're going to see 10 prayer points. 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:55.039 I'm going to pray our way through it. 00:17:55.119 --> 00:17:55.839 There's two slides. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:57.519 They'll flip halfway through the prayer. 00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:01.599 You are welcome to keep your eyes open during this prayer if you want to follow along on the prayer points. 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:04.160 I didn't know if you're aware of that, but you can pray with your eyes open. 00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:04.880 That will be okay. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:06.720 We're very progressive here in that way. 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:13.119 And so as I pray, you can follow your way through these prayer points and pray with me. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:14.160 You don't have to. 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:18.240 If you want to close your eyes and really focus in, you can do that as well. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:31.039 But we're going to spend a few moments in praying for our hearts and for vulnerable children and our community around the world and people who are caring for them and spending their lives caring for them. 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:33.119 So let's pray together. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:50.880 God, we begin by confession of our lack of love for the vulnerable and orphans by our absolute preoccupation with things that don't matter. 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:58.799 God, would you forgive us for being so off mission? 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:14.079 God, would you help us personally help me to grasp your heart for orphan care and adoption and protection and provision? 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:21.759 Would you help our church, Christ the Redeemer, to grasp that and what that might mean for us? 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:25.279 Would you help the church in the U.S. 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:28.079 as so many churches joined this morning? 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:32.000 Is what we're doing right here, they're doing the same. 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:34.720 Would you open our hearts? 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:42.480 Would you open our churches to what it would mean to be a part of your move for the care of orphans? 00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:44.880 Would you help the global church in the same? 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:50.640 God, we invite the Holy Spirit to empower our hearts toward compassion and love. 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:57.759 God, we know there are children nearby that are in foster care. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:01.839 And they are facing life without their father or their mother. 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:08.799 And they're wondering what it would mean or look like to be in a family to have a loving father or mother. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:11.680 And would you comfort them in their quiet moments? 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:22.319 Would they hear from your Holy Spirit in the quiet of their hearts that you are not punishing them, but you are the father to the fatherless. 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:39.759 God, we pray for orphans worldwide, for physical provision, for protection through the church, through governments, through systems, and that they would experience love and belonging through loving people coming alongside them, and that they would know the love of God. 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:46.480 God, we pray for social workers and the ministries that they give through our systems. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:50.000 Would you give them increased patience and compassion in those systems? 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:58.559 God, we pray for officials that make decisions on behalf of the vulnerable, on behalf of orphans and widows and foreigners. 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:05.200 And we pray for the ministries serving youth and creating places of safety. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:13.680 God, we pray for families that have adopted, that mentor or foster. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:18.720 God, we know that that is a hard calling. 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:26.720 And so, God, we pray that you would provide for them and their hearts through their finances and in spirit. 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:33.279 God, we need your personal guidance on your call for our hearts. 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:38.559 And what would it mean for us to join you in the care for orphans? 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:47.279 Would you help us in continued prayer, thoughtful action, and advocacy for orphans? 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:56.799 And God, would you this morning, for so many of us, we needed it, we needed to hear, you are the father to the fatherless. 00:21:57.119 --> 00:22:02.880 So many of us carry in minimized pain and emotional wounds. 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:07.920 And we need to hear, you are the loving Abba. 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:18.000 Would you put in our hearts gratitude for your compassionate heart to all the vulnerable, all the broken, even to us? 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:24.559 Would you put in our hearts gratitude as we get to call you Abba Father? 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:28.720 We thank you that this is possible through the gift of Jesus. 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:33.519 That we have moved from orphanhood to your children. 00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:35.599 In Jesus' name, we pray.